Something to Think About with Rev. Ian McLachlan

In the New Testament it is clear that Jesus felt that what was important was that his followers should firstly love and respect God their Heavenly Father. That was the first and greatest commandment.

The second commandment was that he expected his followers to ‘love their neighbour as much as they loved themselves.’ It is said that sadly there are fewer people who believe in God these days and certainly the number of people in this country who attend worship regularly is going down.

However I do think that there are still many people who, even if they do not care for other people as much as they care for themselves, certainly do often show that they are concerned about those people who share planet Earth with them. That was vividly demonstrated last Friday evening when a total of over £73 million was raised so far by members of the general public for Comic Relief. Throughout the Friday evening on BBC1 a series of not very good and at times controversial programmes was transmitted. And while the so called comedy segments were often disappointing, there were also a number of short films highlighting the difficulties that people both here and abroad have to deal with, which must have really connected with viewers. Viewers were encouraged to send money in so as to help people in need. People whom they would never know but who could do with a helping hand. And so many people responded to that Appeal that it resulted in that very impressive total being raised in a year where many people are somewhat worried about what the future might hold for them financially. This means that thankfully the Christian commandment of looking after others is still one that is followed by many people today.